UNC vs Duke BBall Blackout in Florida - Verizon sports programmer should be fired!

[Tarheeltru]

We were watching the ESPN coverage of the UNC vs. Duke basketball game last night.  Just after half time, we got a frozen screen.  It was a shot of the scene before tipoff.  All of our other channels were working.  Thinking it was something wrong with the DVR, we went through all the technical procedures to troubleshoot.  I called ESPN, they said there were no feed problems.  We call Verizon.  After going through all the technical checks AGAIN, we were ultimately told that we were lucky to have gotten the first half because it was a blackout.  WHAT?!!  Who is responsible for sports programming decisions in Florida?  Why didn't ESPN know that we weren't suppose to get the game?  What is going on?  We pay over $220 per month for our Verizon services.  I expect to get the nationally televised games.  How hard is that?  I want to know what happened and who is responsible for this decision. Why would this game be blacked out in Florida?  

[jss9669]

I'm not sure about the situation in Florida, but I have seen times where ACC games will be carried by both ESPN and the ACC Network and the game will be blacked out on ESPN.  Here in the DC area there have been times, especially during the ACC Tournament, where the games were blacked out on ESPN but carried locally on MyTV since they are the ACC Network affiliate for this area.  Could have been a similar situation in your area where the game was carried on a local station.

I don't know if that was the case here.  I didn't watch the game.

[Caps09]

Each VHO has equipment to black out sports events, but this is controlled remotely by the programmer, like ESPN. ESPN apparently did not have the rights to show the game in your area and mistakenly showed half of it. Where I live these games are usually carried on the local FOX station, through the syndicated ACC network.

Don't dother calling customer service because they know nothing. I'm not picking on Verizon, because all other providers are like this too. CSR's do nothing but read off a script.

[ansky201]

The problem with Verizon is that when a game is blacked out, they don't put up any notification that the game is being blacked out.  So when you tune to the channel it looks like a technical problem.  I have seen other cable providers have a screen come up when you tune to the channel that says "This game is being blacked out in your area."